Subscribe now to continue reading the Arkansas Times

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Louisiana governor set for Democrats' first Clinton Dinner

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a surprise Democratic winner in what has been a blood-red Republican state, will speak in Little Rock July 22 at the annual Democratic Party dinner once known as the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

The dinner is ditching the old name and henceforth is to be known as the Clinton Dinner, for the former president, according to a state party news release, though there's some confusion about the new name. Slave ownership by Thomas Jefferson and Indian removal by Andrew Jackson were among the historic elements in the decision by Arkansas and other Democratic groups to drop use of the names.

The dinner will be at the Statehouse Convention Center.

UPDATE: Re name confusion. HL Moody, a member of the Democratic State Committee and the party's executive committee, said the executive committee had voted to rename the dinner the "Blue Diamond Dinner." He and no other committee members he knew had received word from Party Chair Michael John Gray about a change to the Clinton Dinner. I have an inquiry pending.

I hear from the other side that some confusion arose because there's no record of a vote on the dinner name change and Gray designated the dinner in honor of Clinton, given his long and valuable contribution to the party. Some conversations are continuing on the issue.

The latest numbers from the Department of Human Services show thousands more people did not meet the reporting requirement on work hours in July to meet Medicaid eligibility standards.

Vincent Tolliver, a candidate for Little Rock, mayor, has written legislators asking the Senate Education Committee to ask Education Commissioner Johnny Key to testify about problems encountered by parents on Monday, the first day of school in the state-run Little Rock School District.

News and comment from Medicaid to the White House hissing match. Also the open line.

Readers also liked…

It was not even 24 hours ago that Sophia Said, director of the Interfaith Center; City Director Kathy Webb and others decided to organize a protest today of Donald Trump's executive order that has left people from Muslim countries languishing in airports or unable to come to the US at all — people with visas, green cards,a post-doc graduate student en route to Harvard, Google employees abroad, families. I got the message today before noon; others didn't find out until it was going on. But however folks found out, they turned out in huge numbers, more than thousand men, women and children, on the grounds of the state Capitol to listen to speakers from all faiths and many countries.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson and 2nd District U.S. Rep. French Hill have refused to participate in TV debates scheduled in September.

Chintan Desai, the Democratic candidate for 1st District Congress, just dropped by with some news: An endorsement, a debate date and a celebrity visitor for his Republican incumbent opponent, Rep. Rick Crawford.

A lawsuit was filed today in the federal court for the District of Columbia challenging Arkansas's work requirement for many Medicaid recipients.

Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights legend, will visit Little Rock Sunday afternoon for a fund-raiser for state Rep. Clarke Tucker, the Democratic candidate for 2nd District Congress against Republican Rep. French Hill.